


Birthday Blues

by hisboywriter



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, M/M, corny fluff, so much sap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-21
Updated: 2013-09-21
Packaged: 2017-12-27 05:05:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/974664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hisboywriter/pseuds/hisboywriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With Haruka's birthday drawing near, Makoto takes up part-time work to afford the best gift yet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birthday Blues

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Stefany](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Stefany).



 

 

**-X-**

 

_It’s the best seashell Makoto has found by accident._

_On one of its side, it’s simple, if a little crooked, and easy to overlook. Childlike curiosity and something stronger, a pull in his tummy, is what makes him pluck it from the sand and turn it over. There, the brilliance has him gasp and gape for a while. This is what people really mean when they call something breathtaking._

_Sure he’s unearthed something valuable, he scurries over to where Haru is lazing in the sand close enough for the waves to wash over his legs._

_As though having found a treasure hoard and not a mere shell, Makoto thrusts it forward._

_“Haru-chan,” he says, “Happy Birthday.”_

_Haru stares at the dull side of the shell for a beat. “It’s not my birthday.”_

_“It was a few days ago,” Makoto says with a frown, offended that Haru of all people can think he forgot when Haru’s birthday is. “But better to get a little late present than wait until next year. Look.”_

_He tilts the shell and Haru blinks. Makoto beams at the subtle reaction and puts the gift in his friend’s tiny palm._

_“Thank you,” Haru says casually, but he’s lifting the shell and studying it._

_Makoto’s glee has him add, “It…matches your eye color. It’s meant for Haru-chan.”_

_It’s not a complete lie._

 

**-x-**

 

**Work again? It’s 2**

**days away**

 

Makoto exhaled around a smile as Nagisa’s chastising tone bypassed the text message.

 

**Yeah sorry. Getting**

**Things ready too**

 

**Rei-chan says ur**

**devotion is beautiful**

 

Good thing the route from work circumvented the worst of the crowds; Makoto had little will to combat the blush creeping up his neck.

 

The time in the corner of his phone reminded him he had a three hour break before his next job’s shift began. Though ‘break’ implied anything but, since first he had to ensure Ren and Ran’s project from school, which required more than their combined strength could manage, arrived home safely. His siblings, however, had plans after school and would not see him until tomorrow if his late shift made sure of it, as it usually did. There was also the promise he’d made to his parents to pick up a few items from the market and start dinner preparations.

 

The ache in Makoto’s neck spread into his shoulders.

 

**Next time. Promise.**

**Rei-chan’s heart**

**did this </3**

 

A gossamer smile found its way out. Makoto could already imagine Rei’s protests to Nagisa speaking on his behalf.

 

**Then I’ll practice**

**switching off with him 1 st**

Nagisa’s following text had Makoto momentarily forget how tired he was.

 

**He’s not the only 1**

**you owe. don’t forget!**

 

Makoto regained his composure after the implications borrowed into his heart. As he put away his phone, he tried to not dwell on the fact that this made it the fourth time in a row he neglected his friends. They wouldn’t be practicing today at least. That detail didn’t assuage Makoto in the slightest.

 

He managed his way toward the elementary school, sneaking glances at his phone now and then, but Haru wouldn’t message him. Yet, despite knowing that and making peace with that a while ago, when his phone chimed, Makoto’s heart went awry.

 

It was work, asking if he could come in an hour earlier to cover another’s shift.  He could, and it meant sacrificing a respite to gather his energy, but it also meant a little more money. He signed himself away by replying the affirmative.

 

Two more days.

 

**-x-**

 

Makoto didn’t know what to make of Ren and Ran’s grins.

 

Given how well he knew his siblings, paired with their general inability to pull off mischief anonymously, Makoto couldn’t ignore the way his stomach coiled. He lowered the bite he had about to take from his breakfast and blinked across the table. Maybe little sleep had smudged his vision.

 

“What?” he asked.

 

Ren blinked back, his mouth falling open. Whatever would have spewed out was choked off by Ran shoving a piece of her breakfast into his mouth. The coiling tightened in Makoto’s stomach; it was a suspicious day for Ran and Ren to share food, let alone that kind of…look.

 

“What ‘what’?” Ran asked, shrugging one shoulder before digging into her plate.

 

“You two are up to something.”

 

Ren shook his head too fast that Makoto thought the poor guy was going to make himself dizzy. But Ren said nothing, peeking at Ran and munching harder on his meal. The look Ran shot Ren told Makoto they had previously held a strict conversation over the matter at hand.

 

Their mother slipped in then, setting the family’s arranged lunches. She spoke with the kind a tone that was somehow pre-admonishing and gentle, the way only mothers can speak. “Whatever it is, I’m sure they know to mind their behavior,” she said.

 

Something else in her voice made Makoto study her. Too late, he couldn’t dissect what it had been that piqued his frayed interest. Mothers were like that though, outmaneuvering their kids. Around a sigh, Makoto willed himself to eat his breakfast. He might have lingered to extract any details from his siblings, but fatigue weighed his curiosity down, and a greater purpose eclipsed that fatigue.

 

A quick glance at his watch and Makoto stuffed down the remnants of his breakfast before piling his plate and one of Ran’s empty ones.

 

“Makoto,” his mother said as he came into the kitchen, “you don’t have to do that.”

 

“It’s nothing—“

 

His mother narrowed one eye at him, pried his hands off, and nudged him with a sigh. “You’ve been working too much at that job of yours, plus school, and you’re still doing practice. You’ve hardly had time for anything else.”

 

“It’s really not—“

 

“Yes, yes, I know,” she said, ushering him out. “Don’t be late now. We’ll start getting things ready for tomorrow so don’t worry about that.”

 

Makoto reluctantly obeyed, offering a parting goodbye to the rest of his family as he hurried out the door. A glance at his phone told him he had missed a message.

 

It was from Nagisa.

 

**Working again?**

**We’re at the pool.**

Makoto smiled at knowing the team kept up practice despite the off season. It didn’t hurt that access to an indoor swimming pool made it easier to do so.

 

He replied on his hurried way.

 

  **Until late afternoon.**

**Practice on my behalf**

**if I don’t make it!**

 

The next message had Makoto miss a step.

 

**Haru’s here.**

 

Plenty else went along with that message. Or, at least, Makoto’s proclivity toward concern made him believe so. It felt like years since he had basked in the company of his friends, taken comfort in matching Haru’s step on their way to anywhere. Really not much time had passed since Makoto steeled himself (as much as Makoto could) for what was a ridiculous endeavor.

 

Part-time work proved grueling when one had no more juggling arms to spare.

 

Makoto didn’t let himself dwell much on that right now. He relayed a hello to everyone, and could only hope Nagisa could capture a modicum of what he was really feeling for not being there for them, for Ha—

 

Swallowing a nasty feeling back down, Makoto shoved his phone back into his pocket.

 

One more day.

 

As he dragged his sore limbs to work, Ren and Ran’s grin hung over him like an omen.

 

 

**-x-**

 

 

The next day marked Haru’s birthday.

 

Haru didn’t celebrate his birthday.

 

Every year Nagisa whined on the matter, insisting that it was a day that Haru could receive anything he wanted, be pampered like a king. That did little to sway Haru, who found his riches in the water and eschewed unnecessary attention as it was, which surmounted to just about everything.

 

Past birthdays had been obstructed by school or other complications out of a teenager’s control, though Makoto strove to embellish the day one way or another for Haru. More often than not it fell short in his mind, and after last year when irony struck Haru ill on his birthday, Makoto was renewed in his determination.

 

Everyone deserved a great birthday.

 

Especially Haru.

 

Makoto stifled a blooming blush as the thought got away from him. Not that Haru was looking at him, instead staring beyond the train’s windows, abnormally silent. He’d been that way since they walked to the train station. Theories plagued Makoto on why Haru hardly spoke to him since he appeared at his friend’s door after nearly five days of not seeing each other. At least Haru had not disagreed to be taken out of his home, if only to gain access to a body of water as Makoto promised.

 

Of course Makoto had wished his friend a happy birthday before suggesting the trip, and Haru had merely glanced at him before murmuring a quiet thanks. Nothing else after that, not even to remind Makoto it was a waste of effort to do so, or to mention how little they had seen each other compared to usual.

 

Makoto might have preferred a petulant look rather than battle with mounting anxiety. For all his understanding of his friend’s body language, Makoto couldn’t pinpoint the source of it this time. Was Haru that put off by his absence? Probably not, and believing that to be true did something painful to his chest.

 

It wasn’t the day to reflect on his accumulated emotions. Makoto knew enough to rein in his tongue if he wanted the day to unfold as he expected. There could be time for questions later should the need arise. For now Makoto traced the edges of something tucked in his jacket’s inside pocket, collecting what little courage he possessed.

 

Already his family would be there, tweaking final preparations. Their fervor for this scheme kept the worst of his theories at bay. Not much could be said for his exhaustion. Pastoral scenery blurred by, the train’s cadence, the forever welcoming body warmth from Haru, all of it lulled Makoto into his palm and his eyes slipped shut.

 

When train came to a steady stop, Makoto jolted, unaware he had half-dozed off.

 

Worse, Haru was staring at him.

 

“Oh, we’re here,” Makoto said brokenly through a smile, forcing himself to get up quickly lest he make a bigger fool of himself. It was more practicality than anything else that probably had Haru following his heels out and down two blocks, still silent but carrying an air that had Makoto’s skin prickling for too many reason.

 

“Makoto,” Haru started.

 

Resolve pressed Makoto forward, and he said, “Almost th—Oh, look. There it is.”

 

It was impeccable luck that the station was so close to the building. It wasn’t so much sweeping tall as it was wide, stretching along multiple blocks and squatting proud near the ocean. One had to walk to one end of the building to spot the waves, but salt hung to the surrounding air.

 

Haru peered up at the edifice as they neared. His nose wrinkled the slightest, telling Makoto he caught whiffs of the smell. They stopped a little ways from the gaping entrance.

 

Hope put Makoto’s muscles on edge as he studied Haru’s reaction.

 

“This is an aquarium,” Haru said. He sounded intrigued.

 

Makoto shrugged like he didn’t know any better.

 

“Haru-chan! Mako-chan! Finally.”

 

There was no missing the zeal of Nagisa’s wave, nor the lunge he made toward them. The blonde ensnared Haru in a fierce embrace that ultimately required Makoto’s hand so they wouldn’t take a nasty spill.

 

“Haru-chan, Happy Birthday!” Nagisa pressed his cheek to Haru’s before hopping back. His hands maintained a grasp on the other’s wrists. It was out of affection, but also served as a possible attempt to drag Haru in should he not wilt under Nagisa’s enthusiasm.

 

“Nagisa,” was all Haru could say when he could breathe properly. He caught movement over Nagisa’s shoulder. “Rei, too…”

 

Rei smiled, a hint of his old unease returning upon recognizing this was his first time celebrating Haru’s birthday, while the rest had shared plenty others. “Happy Birthday, Haruka-senpai…”

 

At last Haru glanced over at Makoto, though it was a feeble attempt when Nagisa was bullying him inside. Reil trailed after, venturing that perhaps Nagisa should not be so aggressive on the birthday boy. Nagisa waved off his worries.

 

Makoto watched them a moment, treasuring the scene until he reminded himself he didn’t come all this way to stand outside. He shoved down a yawn and chased after the others.

 

A banner greeted them all, proclaiming celebratory notions for the one and only Nanase Haruka. Streamers sparkled from where they clung to the ceiling where life-size dioramas of sea creatures hung off of, giving the impression that they swam through stars. At this, Haru stared.

 

“It’s like when we were kids and went to that aquarium with our class,” Nagisa was saying. “But this one is much bigger!” Then, he chuckled in Rei’s direction. “It’s a first for all of us here, together.”

 

Haru looked between the two as Nagisa bounded over to one side.

 

“Haru-chan, Haru-chan, over here,” Nagisa called, no longer locking the birthday boy down in his grip. Tanks filled with water lined the edge of the hallway where the entrance stood. It was all the persuasion necessary to keep Haru inside.

 

Makoto came short behind him as Nagisa presided over a decorated table with wrapped goodies. Ocean paraphernalia peeked out from between wrapped gifts and framed the table’s edges, all the product of labored care. The decorative items came from the gift shop, currently closed, as was the entire aquarium as far as the rest of the world knew.

 

It was Rei who answered the silent question. “It’s checked out for a private event,” he said, almost preening. He should be, as it was his proposal that motivated Makoto to see if such a thing were possible for such a small gathering.

 

Rei might not have known them since they were all knee-height, but he was one of them just as every bit as the rest of them.

 

“Just us?” Haru asked, already trailing down the lobby. He paid no mind to the few employees maintaining vigilance from their corners.

 

Nagisa stretched out his arms. “The whole place.”

 

Makoto kept distance from Haru, scrutinizing every quadrant of his friend’s body for signs of approval. They reached the first tank, a narrow albeit deep stretch of glass that extended almost to the height of the ceiling.

 

Assorted fish drifted through, their colors acting as a kaleidoscope that swirled over Haru’s features. Gradually, his hands lifted and pressed against the glass, as if they could feel the water beyond the barrier.

 

Whatever Haru might have said at that moment drowned under Rei’s gasp.

 

“A-Ah, he,” Rei stumbled over his vowels, then looked intently at Makoto, “he’s not…going to try to swim in the tanks?”

 

Makoto couldn’t help it. He laughed.

 

He didn’t notice Haru glance at him as he did so.

 

Nagisa patted Rei assumingly on the back. “That’s what Makoto is here for, hm?” Makoto made to say something on that, but the blonde was already diverting their attention further down. “Look!”

 

At the mouth of the corridor, the aquarium branched out into four sections that would inevitably tangle with one another. The most left tunnel had a sign taped to its wall, hand-done and instructing Haru to follow its guidance. Makoto didn’t recall that as part of the festivities.

 

“What is—Oh! Nagisa, what are—“ Makoto grunted as a final shove had him almost sprawling into Haru, who’d equally been pushed forward.

 

“You two better get started,” Nagisa said, flashing a smile at Rei, who offered a more sympathetic one at them.

 

“We’ll meet up soon,” Rei promised. “Enjoy the sights. I’ve heard they’re beautiful.”

 

Makoto gaped at them both. “But what are—“

 

“The sign says to follow. So, follow,” Nagisa said, turning away.

 

Makoto watched them trail off. A peek told him Haru was already ahead of him, the sign and its arrow having no impact on his friend. Instead the guarantee of more water guided Haru’s feet. In the end, the result was the same.

 

Meanwhile Makoto could only follow and mull over the turn of events. Granted, touring the aquarium with Haru had been a bulk of the plan, yet he felt distinctly out of control. True, in his fantasies he might have explored alone with Haru, but they were fantasies for that specific reason.

 

Makoto repressed a groan.  It did him little good to weigh one more topic on his heavy mind.

 

Watching Haru, however, was easy. It always was.

 

At the moment the birthday boy was fixated on a chamber that seemed to suck in sunlight. Rays wavered through the folds of water, all kinds of lovely in how it cast patterns. Makoto noted a moment later that that wasn’t what had Haru’s attention. Attached to the plaque that educated tourists on what lay within the water was a keychain. On it, a plastic dolphin.

 

“Eh…” Makoto tilted his head at it. “A gift?”

 

“There’s another sign.”

 

There was, and it instructed to go right at the next fork once the gift had been accepted. To Makoto’s amusement, Haru did pluck the dolphin up. He turned it in his palm as if searching for something, then turned his face away before Makoto got a reading off him.

 

To Makoto’s further amusement (and slight perplexity), Haru took a right at the fork. Maybe the promise of more marine trinkets coaxed him to humor the sign.

 

“Some kind of treasure hunt?” Makoto ventured. “Though I suppose it’s not much a hunt if you’re just given the treasure.”

 

“This isn’t your idea?”

 

Makoto shook his head, surveying the area for clues. He found none.

 

Haru stopped to examine the smaller tanks fixated like windows into this stretch of corridor. Seahorses, vibrant corals, and eels were a handful of other creatures they got to inspect without the swarm of people bustling their way into personal space to catch a glimpse.

 

It had been precisely that reason to rent out the aquarium. Haru didn’t do well in throngs of crowds, less so when they served as obstacles for something he wanted. Rei deserved endless thanks for what now seemed like an obvious suggestion. Haru looked calm.

 

Makoto relaxed at the sight, his weariness and worries seemingly miles away. He approached his friend, peering into the same tanks, matching his step. It was like they had never been apart to begin with.

 

In the peace an empty aquarium could supply, Haru bode his time well on each exhibit. He even offered some commentary, however truncated, when Makoto read aloud each display’s information.

 

“These creatures prefer the safety of the coral than,” Makoto paused, turning his head.

 

“What is it?”

 

Makoto didn’t answer right away, straining for the sound he was sure he had heard. For a moment he thought it was Rei and Nagisa catching up at last. “Nothing,” he said eventually, “thought I heard something.”

 

“Hm.” Haru moved away from him. “Here. Another one.”

 

On the last tablet, a small vile dangled from string. It had no label, but Makoto recognized the distinct thread. His adolescent fingers had struggled to tie a not on it many years ago. He remembered the scratch carved into the bottle from where it had absorbed a bad fall. Makoto had been so upset over such a miniscule detail that he had almost not given it to Haru.

 

“Ocean salt for the bath,” he said. He opened his mouth, shut it, opened it again. “Isn’t…”

 

“They are.” Haru took the gift, for it was a gift, one that had been given ages ago.

 

Gifts Makoto had presented to Haru, or snuck at onto front door as a clever (in his child’s mind) way to surprise Haru. The dolphin too, a gift he paid for himself with allowance on a trip his family took for a few days. The bulk of it had been spent less on sight-seeing and more hunting for the perfect souvenir.

 

Makoto didn’t know whether to blanch or blush. His stomach resumed its uncomfortable coiling as if eels had taken up residence there. It couldn’t do his health good to have the sensation overcome him twice in less than twenty-four hours.

 

“Makoto.”

 

Haru was waiting for him at the start of another channel. Makoto didn’t hesitate to follow, but noted the second gift had been pocketed already.

 

“You’re really going along with this,” Makoto said.

 

Haru shrugged one shoulder. “They probably have more of your gifts.”

 

Just like that, he made his way down a path that sloped downward. Whatever frustration, irritation, or anything else Makoto had failed to label inside his friend petered out now that a goal presented itself.

 

Haru wanted the gifts from Makoto back.

 

Makoto’s steps felt lighter as he went along with the arrangement.

 

The corridor continued to elucidate more sea life, both plant and animal, and they huddled by each tract of glass, big or small. Makoto’s gifts might have been held as collateral, but the journey to them was just as important. That much Makoto suspected, and, really, if it meant sharing Haru’s presence like this, he had no cause for protest.

 

He hadn’t realized how parched he was for Haru’s company.

 

They continued on. Along the way they picked up more gifts, all relatively small, and some embarrassing as Makoto remembered his attempts at hand-crafting a few of them. Haru examined each one, as if confirming they belonged to him, before a flicker of satisfaction crossed his face.

 

Then, the signs guided them into looming darkness.

 

It wasn’t an opaque gloom, but that hardly comforted Makoto when they proceeded forward, him grappling to keep his legs going. The ceiling grew ridges and bumps, mirroring the expanse of a ship’s interior. Soon tanks flanked them on either side. The deeper they treaded in, the deeper the tanks yawned, until it looked and felt as if they were sunken deep in the middle of the sea herself, with no tourists in awe to tell them otherwise.

 

Whatever suspicions Makoto had conjured up about this game shut down, abandoning him to a flurry of feelings, none of them good.

 

Makoto kept peeking at the tanks, his heart dropping lower into his feet each time he did.

 

Something rushed up into view and past them.

 

Makoto cried out. He dove behind Haru, face burying in one shoulder.

 

“Makoto.” Haru’s voice soothed the jagged edges of his panic, enough for Makoto to realize he had just about tackled his friend to the ground.

 

He wanted to apologize, but if he opened his mouth, he didn’t trust he wouldn’t cry out again or make a sniveling sound.

 

A hand found its way into his own. A squeeze, and Makoto earned the nerve to open one eye.

 

Haru was trying to look at him.

 

“It’s a beluga,” Haru said.

 

“A…b-beluga?” Makoto raised his head.

 

There it was, a toddler if the size said anything about it, undulating through the recess of its man-made home. It neared the tank again. Makoto flinched on instinct as its swimming created the sound of muffled, surging water. The sound of drowning.

 

“There’s the bottom,” Haru was saying, pointing with a free finger.

 

Makoto strained his vision after convincing himself to look. Yes, he could see the hazy stretch of the tank’s bottom. Rocks littered it and mounted into an arch in one area, and the water fell a little dark as you looked into its deep end, but there were clear signs that this was a tank, not the ocean.

 

Haru’s palm shifted against his own, pulling Makoto’s attention back to the fact that Haru was holding his hand.

 

And he didn’t let go when he moved forward. Makoto swallowed hard. He squeezed Haru’s hand back, thinking he couldn’t let go if he wanted to.

 

“Are you alright?” Haru asked.

 

Makoto continued glimpsing at both sides of the tank, which were actually two separate chambers that each housed the happiest looking belugas he’d ever seen. A dark corner within him still whispered lies about what monstrosities lurked in the crooks that he couldn’t see.

 

“Makoto.”

 

“I’m fine.” His voice sputtered out as if he hadn’t been breathing.

 

Haru’s eyes ever so slightly narrowed at him. Then he looked back ahead, still in possession of Makoto’s hand.

 

“You’re not.”

 

Makoto was glad Haru didn’t see his face. He couldn’t muster a shabby smile if he tried. Better to concentrate on the heat of Haru’s hand, count the quick steps his friend took to lead them out sooner than later.

 

This wasn’t at all how Makoto planned the day to go.

 

The ceiling above them suddenly smoothed out and stretched up. A hill, bare save for a conveyer running up its middle, waited for them. At its pinnacle Makoto noticed light exuding out, disrupted by the texture that only water could do. He shared a look with Haru before they stepped onto the conveyor.

 

“Feeling better?” Haru asked.

 

Makoto exhaled the worst of his dread. “Yes, I’m alright. Thank you.”

 

Haru didn’t let go of his hand.

 

Before they reached the mound’s apex, Makoto understood why the room below had been so barren. Light shivered through the tank, which encompassed all sides save for the stretch of conveyer that continued pulling them forward. The glass dome bowed above them, filled to the brim with aquatic life that glided to and fro, indifferent to the two boys sweeping under them.

 

It must have been a taste of heaven for Haru.

 

Makoto forced himself to stop gaping around him, more interested in the other boy’s response.

 

Haru was the picture of peace. He had his head tilted up the way Makoto had seen him underwater, looking at the distorted sunlight raining down on him, its light fragmented and always moving.

 

Only now Makoto to gaze at the sight without fear of his lungs losing air.

 

Haru blinked twice, his glazed eyes sharpening as something sparkled.

 

Looking in the same direction, Makoto saw it too, a long string taped to the glass. At its end, a seashell dangled. Haru reached and easily freed it as they passed under it.

 

“Ah, that’s—!” Makoto shouldn’t have been surprised to see another gift, and yet the eels came back, swarming through his chest and up into his throat.

 

Haru angled the shell to reveal the blue brilliance that had captivated Makoto as a child, and not for the reason he had given. True, the color had a shocking resemblance to Haru’s eyes, still did. There was more to it than that and the answer lied within the entirety of the shell. It had reminded Makoto of Haru, the part revealed to the world nothing extraordinary, maybe dull at worst. Yet in that one effort to peek at the other side Makoto had seen the beauty that people only saw when Haru swam.

 

He saw it always.

 

As far as his childish mind had known, it was like a nod from an omnipotent force that he had found the shell. Makoto’s face went hot at how silly his younger self had been. No wonder his mother chuckled so much when he spoke of Haru. Had he always been so obvious?

 

The words left him before he knew it. “You kept it all along.”

 

“Hm?” Haru’s gaze both chilled and heated his body. “It was on my desk. You must have seen it.”

 

Makoto had faint memory of that, which made his comment that much stupider. Makoto, flustered, was at a loss.

 

His hand was still tucked into Haru’s, soon to be saturated with sweat.

 

“Ah, no…that’s…what I meant—“

 

“You’ve been working a lot.”

 

It came out so soft, yet the power of it shut Makoto up.

 

“Yes,” he said after a while. “I’m sorry for that.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because I haven’t been able to see you—“

 

“No,” Haru’s grip tightened around his hand. “Why?”

 

Makoto analyzed his question again. He sighed and looked up in time to see a school of fish pass over.

 

“I wanted to do something special for you,” he admitted.

 

“The aquarium?”

 

Makoto’s breath came harder. With herculean effort he withdrew his hand from Haru’s and fished out what had been weighing a thousand times its weight in his pocket. It was a wrinkled photo, worn down from all the times Makoto had folded it, fiddled with it, made notes on the back.

 

Though it was a mere photograph and could only enlighten someone to a fraction of the glory it showed, it was still enough to daze Haru. Never must he have seen such clear ocean water, so still as it sat beneath a cluster of huts.

 

“This is in Rarotongo,” Makoto explained. “It’s one of the places with clearest ocean water. They even have rooms on the ocean like that, little huts.”

 

Haru’s lips parted, though nothing came out. The hand with the shell in its palm reached for the photo.

 

“I, ah, almost have enough saved. I didn’t make it in time for your birthday but,” Makoto watched the shell from where two of Haru’s finger cradled it, “it’ll be a little late…”

 

Haru remained silent, eyes and mind on the photo. His thumb brushed over a bent corner and followed the line of a crease. Hundreds of heartbeats must have passed in Makoto’s chest, and still his friend said nothing.

 

“I had it in my pocket a lot,” Makoto said as by way of justifying its condition. That was the diluted essence of the truth. The rest revolved around the many pockets it had been shoved into, particularly before work. Something about feeling it there, or looking at it during his breaks, extended the life of his ragged vigor.

 

At last, when Haru did speak, it followed the softest hint of a chuckle. Makoto wanted to hear that sound again.

 

“You’re giving me the ocean,” Haru said.

 

Makoto wouldn’t have gone as far as to say that, but Nagisa and Rei had both said something similar once their shock gave way to admiration. In Nagisa’s case, there was also something impish. A trip for two on a remote island, he had all but purred, then elaborated to Rei that such a gift could not be pulled off in the early stages of a relationship. Needless to say, Makoto’s bewilderment went ignored.

 

What else could Makoto have given Haru though? Each year he had scrambled some symbolic representation of what his friend loved best. None of them measured up, none capable of summing up everything Makoto felt.

 

The world consisted mostly of water and Haru swam in not even a fraction of its best tides. A quixotic idea that had spawned from a love-struck teenager, Makoto knew that now without anyone’s counsel. Yet unlike most teenager-driven follies he still refused to let this one sit in his mind and never come to fruition.

 

“I know your…parents are busy,” Makoto tried, “so I thought it would be okay to try it out. Travel, I mean. When school’s out.”

 

They were nearing the end of the conveyer’s journey. Haru looked back at the tank, his face angled so Makoto could not read his expression. “You’d come with me?”

 

Makoto had planned to, wanted to, if only to keep tabs on his friend. After all Haru had a penchant for recklessness when it came to his watery impulses. But wanting and doing were not the same.

 

“Well, I…if you didn’t—“

 

“You’ve been working a lot.”

 

Same sentence, a fresh set of implications.

 

Makoto’s muscles softened. All at once, he clicked onto Haru’s unspoken words, including those that had never made it into text messages sent to Makoto’s phone.

 

“I’ll come,” he said.

 

Haru breathed out slowly.

 

“Will you keep working?” he asked.

 

“Just a little longer,” Makoto said.

 

Haru returned the photo. “Then you’ll stop.”

 

Makoto made to bring up that it would be harder to visit other places without finance, but Haru continued on in a firmer voice. “If Makoto is there,” he said, “it doesn’t matter where I swim. If Makoto is here, then…”

 

He didn’t finish and did not have to.

 

Similar words had been confessed before. Their magnitude impossibly didn’t compare to what Makoto heard now. “Swimming with you, anywhere,” he said, “that’s enough for me too.”

 

He felt recharged, as if he could endure another years worth of exhaustion. Something sallied through him. It took him a moment to identify it as courage before he stepped closer.

 

“Haru, I—Ah!”

 

The conveyer reached its end and the carpet that should have met Makoto was replaced by two small bodies that ensnared his legs. He flailed, fumbled, and came crashing onto his backside with a groan.

 

“Stay still, please, Big Brother.”

 

Makoto knew Ren’s voice anywhere. He whipped his head up in time to see Ren and Ran come at him, looping something around his neck faster than he could process that it was indeed Ren and Ran that had toppled him over.

 

“Ren? Ran!”

 

“Almost done,” Ran insisted, blocking Makoto’s view of Haru. Her fingers swept through red fabric that brushed against Makoto’s neck.

 

“What? What are you two—“

 

“Ta-da!” The two cheered in unison, stepping back and framing Makoto with their arms as if presenting an exhibit. “Happy Birthday, Haru-chan!”

 

Ran squealed and latched onto Makoto’s arm while Ren launched himself at Haru’s chest. Having received the end of the boy’s attention before, Haru easily balanced him with one arm, though he ogled what sibling assault had befallen Makoto.

 

His brow quirked. Then, the quirk reached down to his mouth.

 

Makoto paled.

 

After a prolonged pause, Haru looked between the two children. “Ren, Ran,” he said, “thank you.”

 

“Ahh, Haru-chan likes our gift?” Ran asked, rushing over to grasp Haru’s free arm. “I knew it!”

 

“Nagisa and the tall one with glasses thought so too,” Ren added, flashing that same grin from the other morning at Haru, then at Makoto.

 

“Gift?” Makoto balked, then had the sense to peer down. It was a funny angle, but he made out the curves of a plump bow around his neck. Realization hit him so hard he went as red as the accessory around him.

 

“Of course,” Ran said, frowning his way. “Big Brother has been working a lot. Haru-chan hardly comes over anymore to play.”

 

In the mind of a child that explanation had merit. Though Ran and Ren did not see Haru lately, that didn’t prevent their imaginations from speculating his wallowing, at least in their mind anyway, over the loss of his friend’s company. Naturally for his birthday he’d want the situation remedied.

 

“Haru-chan is Big Brother’s most special person, so Big Brother must be Haru-chan’s most special too,” Ren supplied, nodding with satisfaction at his calculations. “We had to remind you was all.”

 

Makoto tried to laugh, but his disbelief and creeping fatigue bogged it down to a shaky gasp. If only things were as simple as how children thought them to be.

 

“Mom and Dad know you were up to this?” he managed to ask, unable to look at Haru as much as he wanted nothing more than to translate his friend’s expression.

 

“Of course,” Ren and Ran said.

 

Makoto stared at them.

 

Of course.

 

“Oh, we have to hurry,” Ren said, wiggling in Haru’s grip. Gently he was detached and lowered. “We have to finish the picnic stuff! We can play more there.”

 

Ran nodded in agreement.

 

“Picnic?” Haru parroted.

 

Makoto didn’t bother to get up from the ground as he said, “Oh, yeah. After the aquarium, we were going to go swimming at the ocean. My family brought enough food for all of us to last hours.”

 

“Yup, so we better hurry! You can tell us how much you liked our sign idea after. It was mostly my idea,” Ran said, hurrying ahead.

 

“You did _not_ ,” Ren shouted, his voice echoing down the channel they had run into.

 

“Your family, and Nagisa and Rei,” Haru said. His eyes had widened an iota.

 

Makoto smiled, which probably made him look all the more silly now that he was dolled up. “They’re all excited to spend the day swimming with you. Ran’s not very good at swimming, but she got these floaties so she could swim with you.”

 

The entire Tachibana family celebrated today, their preparations executed with the same fervor they put into one of their own having a birthday. Because Haru was their own, had been for much longer than the birthday boy could suspect.

 

Haru closed the distance between them in three strides.

 

“Sorry about that,” Makoto sighed. “And…well, they always say funny things.”

 

Haru was quiet for a moment, not looking his way.

 

“…Sounded fine to me.”

 

“Oh.”

 

Haruka’s hand reached out to him. Like a dumb stricken fool that didn’t know what to do with the confession, Makoto gazed stupidly at it.

 

 “You won’t get any swimming done sitting there,” Haru said.

 

Makoto burst into a new smile and accepted the hand, feeling the rim of the shell press into his palm with enough pressure to leave an indentation. Once up, their hands remained clasped. Makoto knew he wasn’t winning the battle with the blush anytime soon.

 

“Do I, ah, look as bad as I think?” Makoto asked.

 

Haru scanned him up and down, innocently, but it turned Makoto into mush all the same.

 

“It’s appropriate,” Haru decided.

 

“I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. I don’t doubt Nagisa used your back entrance to commit burglary.” He exhaled, wondering if Rei had been cast in the role of look-out. It was his own fault for allowing Nagisa to nose his way into seeing each year what he planned to give Haruka.

 

Haru wasn’t thinking about that, instead busy studying Makoto’s eyes. Rather, something beneath them.

 

“I’m fine,” Makoto said. “I’ll get enough sleep tonight. Promise.”

 

That satisfied Haru, but Makoto didn’t doubt he’d get a fiercer (Haru-style) look should he go back from his promise, which he never did if he could help it. Apparently his nonattendance had more of an effect than Makoto gave himself credit for.

 

“I’ll be sure you do,” Haru said. Again, he averted his gaze.

 

Understanding burned into Makoto’s mind. He was sure it must have been his own birthday if his bed would have Haru waiting in it tonight. They’d shared the space before, but not prior to holding hands like this either. A frisson of delight overcame him.

 

“Erm…Should I take off the bow yet?”

 

He could have sworn he saw a tinge of pink touch Haru’s face. “It’s fine if you want to,” he said, back to watching a nearby tank.

 

Makoto decided he could put up with the bow a little longer.

 

“Come on,” Makoto said. “One more time through the underwater tunnel again?”

 

He knew Haru would agree even before they made their way back down the carpeted hill.

 

Rei’s earlier concerns had been fed by the logic that Haru took off his clothes for a body of water that submerged his entire body. True as it was, that experiment had not considered external variables at the time.

 

Makoto assumed this was one of them, just as he liked to think that what Haru felt holding his hand might have been almost as powerful as what he felt like when swimming.

 

At the least that’s the first thing he thought when, in the middle of their admiring a shark slithering above them, Haru sank his head against his shoulder. Makoto was not surprised that his own head fitted snuggly atop Haru’s.

 

The shell stayed pressed between their palms and Makoto had to think, well, it wasn’t that silly a gift after all.

 

 

**-x-**

 

_Makoto yawns and slumps his head against Haru’s. How his friend never plays the part of someone having spent themselves in all-day swimming, he will try to master one day. For now, he settles for blearily watching the sun dip past the ocean, smearing it with an array of warm colors._

_“Pretty,” he says._

_Haru doesn’t mind that Makoto is sagging against him. “Mm,” he agrees._

_“One day,” Makoto starts through another yawn, “I’ll take you.”_

_“Where?”_

_“To all the seas and oceans.” Makoto drags his towel higher around him as his eyes start to close. “So you can swim in them. For your birthday.”_

_He barely makes out Haru pulling out the shell was given earlier._

_“That’d be nice,” Haru says._

_“Happy Birthday, Haru.”_

_This time Haru doesn’t remind Makoto it isn’t his birthday._

 

**-X-**

 

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be short, and...now it's not. I wanted Ren and Ran involved, and a crapload of corniness. Subtext overload!


End file.
